World Series Final Plays

As Edgar Renteria bounced the final out of the 2004 World Series to Boston’s Keith Foulke, the thought immediately popped into my mind that Renteria had also ended the 1997 World Series with a winning single to center field against Cleveland’s Charles Nagy. Wondering if that had ever happened before, I began to do a little research.

2004 marked the one hundredth playing of the World Series. With the help of Retrosheet I compiled a table of the final plays for each of those one hundred World Series. Not unexpectedly, the final play was generally an out recorded by the winning team (89 times). However, as I looked further, I found an interesting pattern of pairs within those one hundred results.

As it turned out, Edgar Renteria was one of two men to end two World Series, once with the winning hit and once with the final out. The other was Goose Goslin who ended the 1925 series for Washington by striking out and ended the 1935 series with a single to drive Mickey Cochrane home with the winning run for Detroit. The 1925 series marked the first series in which a team (the Pirates) rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win. Walter Johnson took the loss after he had won two games earlier in the series as Washington lost in its second World Series appearance. Remy Kremer notched his second win for the Pirates with four innings of one-hit relief as the Pirates rallied from a four-run deficit to win by two. In 1935, Goslin’s two-out single brought Detroit its first World Championship and notched Tommy Bridges’ second victory of the series.

There were also two men who ended two World Series by making the final out. Furthermore, both men did it in successive World Series. Detroit’s Boss Schmidt ended both the 1907 and 1908 World Series by making an out. In 1907, Schmidt popped out to shortstop notching George Mullin’s second loss of the series as the Tigers lost to the Cubs by a score of 2-0. In 1908, it was a ground out, catcher to first, which sent Bill Donovan to his second loss of the series as the Cubs again defeated the Tigers, 2-0. In 1921 the Yankees’ Aaron Ward ended the Series by making the final out at third base as the second out of a double play and then ended the 1922 World Series with a fly out as Bullet Joe Bush lost his second game for the Yanks by two runs, 5-3. Fortunately for both men, they each got to play in a third World Series although only Ward would be with a winner.

Speaking of double plays, there have been two occasions in which the World Series has ended with a double play. The first was in 1921 when Frank Baker hit into a 4-3-5 double play with Ward being put out attempting to advance to third. An interesting side note was that the Yankees trailed 1-0 and had Ward stayed at second; he would have been the tying run with Wally Schang coming to the plate. It was only the second time that Baker was involved in a double play in a World Series; the other time being in the 1914 series against the Braves. The winner was Art Nehf, who had already lost two games in the series, while the loser was Waite Hoyt, who had already won two. The second World Series to end with a double play was in 1947 when Brooklyn’s Bruce Edwards bounced into a 6-4-3 double play retiring Eddie Miksis at second on the play. The Yankees won the game 5-2 as Joe Page pitched five innings of one hit relief for the victory. Edwards batted .222 for the series and would only get two more at bats in the second of two World Series in which he participated. Miksis and Page would also play in only two World Series. This game also marked the first of Page’s two World Series victories.

As for doubles, there have been two World Series that ended on a double. Washington’s Earl McNeely was the first to do it when his infamous “pebble bounce” over New York’s Freddie Lindstrom’s head in 1924 scored Muddy Ruel in the bottom of the twelfth inning for Washington’s only World Series crown. It was the second double of the inning as Muddy Ruel reached on a double of his own after Giants’ catcher Hank Gowdy dropped Ruel’s foul pop-up. It would have been the second out of the inning. Jack Bentley took the loss for the Giants, which was his second loss of the series and his final appearance in the two series in which he played. For McNeely, it was his final hit in World Series play. He would play in only two World Series and would finish with a .222 batting average. The second time was five years later when Bing Miller of the Philadelphia Athletics capped a comeback three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Chicago Cubs by doubling Al Simmons home from second base. This was the second comeback win for the Athletics in as many games. The game before, the Athletics rallied for 10 runs in the bottom of the seventh to overcome an 8-0 deficit in what is the largest deficit any team has overcome in World Series play. The victim was the Cubs’ Pat Malone and marked his second loss of the series in his second start. Miller had two hits off Malone that day and may have been especially satisfied with the hit as two days earlier, when the Athletics staged their famous comeback, Malone entered the game in the seventh inning and hit Miller, the first batter he faced.

Most will easily remember that there has been two times in which the World Series has ended on a home run. Pittsburgh’s Bill Mazeroski brought the Yankees low in the bottom of the ninth inning. in 1960 with a home run in the seventh game. It was Mazeroski’s second home run of the series and would be his final home run in the two World Series in which he participated. It was also Ralph Terry’s second appearance and second loss of the series although he would go on to win two and lose two in the remaining four series in which he appeared. The second occurrence was when Toronto’s Joe Carter ended the 1993 series and dashed the Phillies’ hopes of forcing a seventh game as he hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth off reliever Mitch Williams. As with Mazeroski, it was Carter’s second home run of the series and was the second time in which he hit two home runs in the two World Series in which he played. As with Terry, it was also Williams’ second loss of the series.

Finally, there have been two World Series that have ended on base-running plays, and they occurred in successive seasons. New York’s Babe Ruth ended the 1926 World Series by being caught stealing second base with the Yankees trailing by one run and Bob Meusel at bat. It netted Jesse Haines his second win of the series. Grover Cleveland Alexander saved the game with his famous relief appearance entering the seventh inning with two out and the bases loaded to strike Tony Lazzeri out. He too registered two victories in the series. The very next year, the Yankees’ Earle. Combs scored the winning run of the series on a wild pitch by Pittsburgh’s Johnny Miljus with the bases loaded, two outs and Tony Lazzeri at bat. It was also Miljus’ second wild pitch of an inning he almost escaped without a run. Combs had walked to open the inning and after Koenig singled him to second Miljus made his first errant toss. Ruth was walked intentionally to load the bases. Miljus then recorded two strikeouts against Gehrig and Meusel. Tony Lazzeri next strode to the plate. Just as in 1926 against Alexander, he pulled the first pitch just foul into the left field stands. Miljus then delivered a ball, and on the next pitch one of his curves eluded Johnny Gooch and Combs scampered home.

No World Series has ended on a triple.

Baseball has always been a game of symmetry and harmonies; batter and pitcher; winner and loser. So, it was both surprising and yet not so to see that through the first one hundred playing of the World Series such dualities would exist. I’ve included a table with the results of the final play of the first one hundred World Series. Let’s see what the next one hundred bring.

JOE ELINICH, a member since 1979, is a retired government employee who stays active by broadcasting Pirate games over the Internet for MLB.com. He has been married for 32 years and has a daughter in college. He is Secretary/Treasurer of the Forbes Field Chapter.